The Missing Light
by The-Rogue-Phoenix
Summary: Once more Peach has been kidnapped, however this time Mario isn't around to save her. Can Luigi and his friends unite to bring the Princess back home or will they fail without Mario there to guide them?


I do not own any of the characters involved in the story, I am merely playing with them :D

Chapter 1: Missing

Crowds of people flocked to be outside the Mushroom Kingdoms castle, desperate to hear the news for themselves. It had been all over the newspapers that morning and the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom wanted confirmation of the wonderful news that had been reported. Anxiously the hundreds of people waited by the gates to the castle and after hours of waiting someone finally emerged. People screamed and shouted excitedly, photographers flashing their camera's wildly and journalists scribbling on notepads furiously. The gates opened and there stood a short plump man dressed in red overalls. Suddenly the crowd when wild for him, he was greeted with a giant round of applause. The man smiled warmly at his adoring fans and called for them to quieten down. The crowd lovingly obeyed, now he had their attention he began to address them.

"Fellow residents of the Mushroom Kingdom, it gives me great pleasure to see you all here….." He started to say, before being interrupted by a journalist.

"Cut to the chase Mario! Did you ask her?" He shouted out. A few women screamed enthusiastically.

The man called Mario blushed and nodded. The crowd clapped and cheered happily. Another journalist shouted out another question.

"Did she accept? What did she say?" The journalist cried out, her pen about to go into overdrive. Mario watched them all, they all seemed just as excited about this almost as much as he was.

"It is true I asked her to marry me and she has made me happy beyond belief by agreeing to become my wife," Mario said positively beaming now.  
This declaration brought even more cheering and applause from the crowd.

Later that evening back in the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach was trying to get a spare moment to herself. Since her engagement to Mario had been announced she had been pestered for information on the big day, her dress and people wanting to see the ring. This was all fine, something she had expected but she just wanted a quiet moment to herself. So here she now was wandering the grounds of her private gardens, in the warm evening breeze.

She had reached the part of the gardens where her large fishpond was positioned. This was one of the most beautiful areas of the garden, the pond it's self was surrounded by red and pink roses. Feelings a little more relaxed she sat herself down on the stone edging of the pond and dipped her fingers into the cool water. She watched her reflection flicker in the ripples and for a brief moment she thought she saw something stir beneath the surface.

"Huh?" She saw it again and immediately felt a little silly, after all it was a fishpond.

But there it was again. A dark shadow flitted about the pond. Peach leant over to get a closer look but it had gone. Her blue eyes searched the water curiously. Nothing happened for a while so Peach went back to absentmindedly swirling her fingers in the water.

As she watched the water she saw the reflection of the moon, but it seemed different some how. She looked into the sky but was startled to see the sky had clouded over. There was no moon. She stared back into the water and the 'reflection' of the moon seemed to be growing larger by the minute. Peach wanted to move away from the fishpond but felt compelled to stare at the light that she had earlier mistaken for the moon.

The white light was nearing the edge of the surface and Peach was moments away from discovering what it was until the dark shadow appeared. Peach's eyes widen in shock as the dark shadow seemed to be following the light at top speed. The shadow and the light seemed to collide causing the fishpond to shudder violently. Peach gasped in shock as the light flickered and died out. The gardens went dark and Peach became fearful.

"Peach….." Came a dark sinister voice. Peach's heart was in her mouth. She looked around the darkness but there was no point, she could not see anything.

"Who's there?" She said as she stood up "Mario?"

Peach was about to make a dash for the castle when a pair of cold wet hands grabbed her and pulled her towards the pond. Struggling the break free of her hands Peach screamed out for help. Tears started to fall down her face as he attacker hauled her into the ice cold water. She felt one hand leave her body and move towards her head. Again she screamed out into the night as her attacker tried to force her under the water.

"You will surrender to me Peach…." Her attacker hissed in her ear.

Peach felt herself getting tired and it was getting increasingly hard to fight back. Her attacker was stronger than she was. Her attackers gave her one hard shove and she felt herself go under the surface. She inhaled an awful amount of water and found herself choking. Slowly the world around her went black, her eyes closed and her body went limp. The attacker had won.

Inside the castle a party in honor of Mario and Peach's engagement party was well under way. Mario was stood in the center of the dance floor chatting to his brother Luigi and his girlfriend Princess Daisy of Sarasaland. Mario was about to ask Luigi a very important question when he was interrupted by a panicking Toad.

"Mariooooo!" Cried out Toad frantically. The poor panicking Toad ran strait into Mario and starting speaking at hyper speed.

"MarioIneedyourhelpPeachhasbeenkidnapped!"

"Whoa Toad, calm yourself and tell me slowly what has happened," Mario said putting a comforting arm around his pint sized friend.

By now Toad's frantic shouting had attracted the attention of the whole party. Everyone in the area stood in a circle round Mario, Luigi, Daisy and Toad. Once he had calmed down Toad started to explain himself again.

"The Princess has been kidnapped, Mario you must save her!" Cried Toad.

"When? Where....." Mario wanted to know.

"By the pond.... come on!" Toad said before beckoning them to follow him.

When they reached the pond all was calm and quiet. Luigi and Daisy started walking around looking for clues. Mario walked over to the pond and sat on the edge just as Peach had done earlier that evening. He looked into the pond and spotted something, frowning he reached his hand into the water and pulled out an object. Toad came over to watch and gasped as Mario showed him what he had found.

"Peach's shoe!" Toad wailed as he took it from Mario. The pink shoe was soaking wet but that did not stop Toad from cradling it lovingly.  
Before Mario could console Toad, they heard a cry from some nearby bushes.

"Hey Mario! Look at this!" Came Luigi's excited voice.

Mario and Toad headed over to Luigi and pushed a few branches of the bushes in question away. As they pulled back the branches a red warp pipe was revealed.

"Mario what is that doing here?" Toad asked jumping up and down.

"How would I know Toad?" Mario muttered as he looked at the warp pipe. Did this have something to do with Peach's disappearance?

"It's weird though bro', I cannot touch it, it will not let me," Luigi said puzzled. Mario watched as his little brother tried to demonstrate this and sure enough as Luigi touched it a force field prevented him from touching it.

"How strange...." Mario mused. Mario edged closer to it and wanted to try it for himself. He reached out a gloved hand and waited for the force field to appear, but it did not come. For some unknown reason Mario found he was able to touch the red warp pipe. Luigi, Toad and Daisy watched with confused expressions on their faces as Mario stroked the edge of the warp pipe.

"How come I can touch it...." Mario muttered out loud. As Mario continued to touch it the warp pipe started to glow. Before Mario could step away from the warp pipe he felt himself being lifted off the ground. He hovered in midair for what seemed like minutes.

"M-Mario!" Luigi cried as he tried to grab his brother and bring him to safety, but the force field which stopped Luigi from touching the warp pipe also prevented him from reaching Mario. Both Daisy and Toad ran forwards out of desperation and both of them were sent rebounding off the force field.

All three had to watch in horror as Mario went from hovering above the warp pipe to being sucked into it and out of sight. The threesome stood in silence for a while trying to make sense of what happened before their very eyes. After some time had passed Toad broke the silence.

"No Peach and no Mario, what do we do now?" He whispered as he looked to Luigi for the answers. Luigi did not really know what to say to this question but as he looked into the fearful eyes of Toad he knew he could not do nothing.

"We... that is to say I find a way to get them back," He said trying to sound positive. Toad beamed up at him.

"You're not going anywhere without me!" Daisy said with her arms folded.

"Daisy.... " Luigi started to protest but the fierce stare he got back told him that he had no choice,

"Fine..." He sighed.

"Right let's go then..... We shall need Mushroom, Fire Flowers, Herbs... We shall need to plan our adventure and perhaps we'll......" Daisy started checking things off with her fingers enthusiastically. Luigi slapped a hand to his forehead.

"It's not going to be that simple.."

"I know Luigi but we gotta be prepared," Daisy argued a little hurt.

"Right well then I suggest we go to Toad Town where we can go to the shop and then get rested in the Inn?" Luigi asked thoughtfully, this was a good idea considering that neither of them had an idea of where to start their quest. Daisy agreed so it was settled, the pair of them said their goodbyes to Toad and headed for Toad Town


End file.
